Entries tagged with: NeonNeon

Super Furry Animals have been on hiatus since 2010 or so following the previous year's Dark Days/Light Years. The band are still together just working on individual projects at the moment. Frontman Gruff Rhys is probably the most prolific, having released solo LP Hotel Shampoo in 2011 and last year put out a second Neon Neon album with collaborator Boom Bip. You can check out the video for "Hammer & Sickle" from Neon Neon below.

Bassist Guto Pryce, meanwhile, formed Gulp with singer Lindsey Leven who have put out two singles to date. Both blend elements of late '60s British folk, groovy bachelor pad rhythm sections and glitchy electronics. SFA keyboardist Cian Ciaran mixed the records. Classy and cool, you can stream them below. Gulp, which live also includes Gwion Llewelyn of fellow Welsh band Race Horses, will be coming over for SXSW and while there have been no dates announced outside Austin, let's hope that changes.

Speaking of Ciaran, he put out his second solo album, They Are Nothing Without Us, in September 2013, loaded with anthemic, melodic rock (and angry protest lyrics) and is not that far off from songs he contributed to SFA's late '00s albums. You can stream his album via Rdio.

SFA drummer Dafydd Ieuan has been spending his time apart from the band with The Earth a group started by Mark Roberts of Catatonia (if you remember them) and is fronted by Dionne Bennett who used to sing with Rhys Ifans' band The Peth (Ieuan was in that band too). The band's debut album, Off On One, came out back in October 2012 and might be described as "widescreen soul." You can stream the album below too.

Neon Neon, the musical collaboration between Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys and beatmaker Boom Bip, will release their second album Praxis Makes Perfect, on April 30. Much like their 2008 debut, Stainless Style (which was about infamous carmaker John Delorean), the new record is a concept album too:

Praxis Makes Perfect is inspired by the life and times of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Born in to one of Italy's wealthiest families, Feltrinelli was a left-wing political activist and published some of the greatest literary works of the 20th century, including The Leopard and Doctor Zhivago. He died in highly suspicious circumstances in 1972.

The record features help from Sabrina Salerno, Cate Le Bon, Josh Klinghoffer and others. Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip have also teamed up with playwright Tim Price, director Wils Wilson and National Theatre Wales to create theatrical live performances in Wales in May.

The album's lead single, "Mid Century Modern Nightmare," is subversively bouncy new wave, featuring Asia Argento reading excerpts from a Feltrinelli pirate radio broadcast. Rhys told The Guardian, "It's a protest against the stylistic mid-20th century cultural stranglehold that continues to clog up our pop culture and strangle our forward-minded spirits to this day." You can stream it below. Actually, for some reason, you can stream the entire album right now via Spotify below as well (UPDATE: stream is down, we thought it seemed strange).

Real Estate have only been around short time, but it seems like hardly a week goes by without a show from the band or one of its member's solo projects (Ducktails, Predator Vision, etc.). They'll finally get around to releasing their debut LP, a self-titled record, on November 17th on the Woodsist label. The first track from that is posted above and two other "album versions" are up on their Myspace.

One artist who's not playing that show or any CMJ shows at all is Washed Out (Georgia's Ernest Greene). He'll play just one NYC show (his second live show ever) one day before CMJ at Santos Party House on October 19th with Restless People. Ticketsare on sale. I tried to get him to open the BrooklynVegan CMJ show at Music Hall on October 20th (one day later), but he said he can't even stay in town that long due to personal commitments back home.

Restless People features members of Professor Murder (and Tanlines). Listen to their first single "Victimless Crime", HERE. The Santos show will be their first show.

One day after CMJ (10/25), Real Estate play a 1:00PM NYC show just for kids (Kidrockers) at The Living Room with... Neon Indian. Tickets are on sale ("Adults must be accompanied by a kid and vice versa").

Will Burial win it this year? Roni Size won in 1997. He beat Ok Computer that year. In fact, Radiohead has never won. This year is the fourth time they're nominated. Maybe they'll finally give it to them.